Blogs. In J. Gary Knowles & Ardra L. Cole (Eds.), Handbook of the arts in qualitative research.

Runte, R. (2008). Blogs. In J. Gary Knowles & Ardra L. Cole (Eds.), Handbook of the

arts in qualitative research. (pp 313-322.). London: Sage.



Runte (2008) has written a comprehensive chapter on blogs related to artist researchers. Runte outlines the purpose of the blog as an art form in three components; publishing venue, marketing strategy, and virtual community (p.314). The blog is discussed from two points of view, that of the researcher utilizing the blog as a source and from the view point of the blogger in terms of the blog as a research tool. Highlighted are points made to the ethical issues regarding anonymity and availability of stored information as well as concerns of informed consent. Runte confirmed that once a public post is created and published, even if it is later deleted, that it can, indeed, be uncovered and continues to be indexed for searches. Advantages listed are the blog as a project management tool, a personal knowledge management tool, portfolio venue, and networking and dissemination tool (p.320). Runte stated “At minimum, blogs represent an emerging art form that engages a significant portion of the population and so is deserving of attention” (p. 322).

Submitted by Amy Morrison

Rubrics for Blogging

http://facultydevelopmentbgsu.blogspot.com/2005/11/rubrics-to-evaluate-classroom-blogging.html



Above is a link to a blog containing a variety of rubrics to understand and ultimately guage student investment in thier blog entries.

The most useful rubric I found to assess blogging was titled the 7 C's for: Complete, Correct, Coherent, Coordinated, Comprehensive, Concise, and Creative-

This is perfect timing as we are coming upon the end of the semester! What I also found useful were the many different ways educators are placing value on different aspects of the blogging experience and the quality of blog entries. Hope you enjoy the blogging rubric landscape that this blog offers!

Submitted by Amy Morrison

Article Review: Acceptance of blog usage: The roles of technology acceptance, social influence and knowledge sharing motivation.

This author notes that several people use and keep blogs, yet little research has been explored as to why people do this. The authors surveyed 212 blog users and found that 78% of the bloggers enjoy the ease of use and the knowledge sharing aspects of the form, they also comment on an innate social aspect of blogging - that a network of "friendship" is built among the blogger and her readers.

Hsu, C. & Chaun Lin, J (2008). Acceptance of blog usage: The roles of technology acceptance, social influence and knowledge sharing motivation. Information and Management, 45(1), 65-74.

Respectfully Submitted, Krystal Demaine

Article Review: “Who Bloggs? Personality Predictors of Blogging”

The author of this article points to Costa and McCrea (2002)and personality traits which include: neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness, openness to experience and consciousnesses; and examined which of these five traits may be predictors of bloggers. Results indicated that personality does play a role in future bloggers and that those who have a neurotic personality are more likely than those who don't. Additionally, this authors research indicated that women are more likely to fall in this category.


Guadagno, R., Okdie, B. & Eno, C. (2007). Who blogs? Personality predictors of blogging. Computers in Human Behavior, 24(5), 1993-2004.

Respectfully Submitted, Krystal Demaine

Article Review: Voluntary self-disclosure of information on the Internet: A multimethod study of the motivations and consequences of disclosing infor

This article came from a marketers need to understand the consumer, which requires the facilitation of two way communication. While the marketer realizes that the consumer is hesitant to disclose personal information - the marketer believes that type of information is required to best meet the needs of the consumer. Through a multi method approaches researches examined what invites certain consumers to volunteer personal information, the author indicates three areas of of a consumers personality that may lead to self disclosure.

Lee, D., Im, S., & Taylor, C. (2008). Voluntary self-disclosure of information on the Internet: A multimethod study of the motivations and consequences of disclosing information on blogs. Psychology and Marketing, 25(7), 692-710.

“The Psychology of Blogging: You, me and everyone in between”

Gurak, L. (2008). The psychology of blogging: You, me, and everyone in between. American Behavioral Scientist, 52(1), 60-68.

This article discusses the psychological implications behind blogging from a theoretical framework. The author considers the use of blogging in research methods for data collection in addition to examining how mediated interfaces are used in every day life. While blogging give people an opportunity to engage into a digital web rather than actual face to face experiences the author points out it is a feature of “the 21st century communication”. Additional considerations are noted in the public and private elements involved in the process of blogging with various objective considerations.

"Psychology Today": Blog Entries as Educational

Psychology Today Blog Entries as Educational
Psychology Today blog entries are educational.
Published on October 26, 2010
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-good-life/201010/psychology-today-blog-entries-educational

This article is written by a psychology professor at the University of Michigan who in the process of examining the mounds of research articles he assigned his (N >250) students, he thought it would be of interest to ask the students to read Blogs. He invited the students to find blogs that were relevant and offered citations so that the students could dig deeper. In an examination to find if this teaching method was useful he discovered that the students had read more content / learned more from reading blogs than from research articles and course texts alone. He suggests that the reason the students responded so well to the blog is because in the blog the writer will “cut to the chase” (“Psychology Today”, 2010)

Respectfully Submitted, Krystal Demaine